Knoll is a constellation of design-driven brands and people, working together with our clients to create inspired modern interiors.

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Knoll to Present a Range of Immersive Planning Solutions at NeoCon 2017

Company celebrates 70 years of KnollTextiles and 100 years of Florence Knoll

EAST GREENVILLE, Pa., May 09, 2017 -- Knoll Inc., a constellation of design-driven brands and people, will showcase a range of Immersive workplace planning solutions for commercial, healthcare, and educational spaces at NeoCon 2017 – the annual contract industry trade show that will take place in Chicago from June 12 – 14.

The Knoll NeoCon showroom will present Rockwell Unscripted™ by Rockwell Group, a broad furniture collection that sets the stage for an Immersive workplace experience. The showroom will also demonstrate the power of bringing together the company’s constellation of workplace solutions and brands – including Knoll Office and Knoll Studio furnishings and accessories; DatesWeiser conference and meeting room furniture; Spinneybeck and FilzFelt architectural and acoustic materials; and the diversity of KnollTextiles fabrics, wallcoverings, and drapery.

This year at NeoCon, KnollTextiles is celebrating 70 years of groundbreaking textile design. Throughout its history, KnollTextiles has collaborated with some of the world’s most talented designers, amassing an impressive collection of upholstery, wallcovering, and drapery solutions. KnollTextiles satisfies the needs of commercial and residential interiors – combining beauty and function in the Modernist tradition.

In addition, Knoll is celebrating 100 years of Florence Knoll whose birthday is on May 24. Florence Knoll is a pioneer of design who shaped Knoll and whose innovations continue to influence the way we work and live.

Presenting Immersive Planning

This year’s NeoCon display builds on the company’s 2016 preview of Rockwell Unscripted, demonstrating how the robust collection of furniture works in tandem with Knoll open plan and ergonomic solutions to make Immersive planning possible. Knoll has identified Immersive planning as a new way to address the contemporary workplace. This planning model blurs the lines between workspace types, enhancing interaction and connected experiences, and creating a sense of hospitality at every exchange.

“Our research shows that workplace planning paradigms are evolving well beyond an activity-based approach, embracing a range of social and creative experiences,” said Alana Stevens, Knoll senior vice president, chief marketing officer.

“Immersive planning uses comfortable furnishings and fluid boundaries to create a variety of experiences. In this group-based workplace, the actions of the people themselves define the space. This results in an environment that can transform at a moment’s notice and evolve with use,” Ms. Stevens added.

Presenting Rockwell Unscripted™

Rockwell Unscripted by Rockwell Group – a comprehensive collection of 30 furniture elements across six product categories that adapt to the spontaneous choreography of the work day – creates an unrivaled work experience designed to let spontaneity unfold and people complete the story.

The culmination of years of research on the way people work today illustrates that Rockwell Unscripted is anything but unplanned. As mobility lifts limitations on where work is done, organizations are challenged to create engaging environments that draw workers to the office. In response, the workplace has taken on a new life, functioning as a town square-like hub energized by the hum of the occupants. Elements of residential and hospitality design provide comfort for employees who come together to connect, ideate, focus, socialize, or otherwise engage.

As the pace and change of group-based work challenges the way the workplace functions, blurring the boundary between work and play in the office doesn’t diminish the amount of work being done. Instead, it injects a new vitality, creating holistic, open-to-interpretation workplaces that can enhance ingenuity and productivity. Rockwell Unscripted takes the notion of planning for spontaneity from an inherent contradiction to a tangible reality: furniture can be adapted or reconfigured around you at any given moment and organizations can develop the space over the course of a weekend or organically over time.

“Our interest is in getting people to look at their work environments as a stage on which movable furniture can be arranged in endless configurations. You can craft the scene around what it is you’re doing that day,” said Rockwell Group founder and president David Rockwell.

Comprised of an eclectic array of freestanding, architecturally grounded and moveable elements that can be used to create everything from gathering spaces to quiet retreats, Rockwell Unscripted creates the stage for an Immersive workspace. Creative Walls™, Puffy™, and Telly™ screens and steps evoke the energy of performance, while tables and seating create experiences for work, conversation, and celebration. Storage puts inspiration within reach and accessories help you feel at home. All of it comes to life by the people that activate the space.

Commenting on Rockwell Unscripted, Benjamin Pardo, Knoll director of design, said, “The market has responded positively to Rockwell Unscripted. The collection is very much open to what people will do with it. It’s truly an invitation for workplace designers and their clients to personalize their own space.”

Expanded Wood Products Finishing Capabilities

This year at NeoCon 2017, Knoll will preview new veneer finishing capabilities, including an expanded range of gloss levels. New technology at the company’s Toronto wood manufacturing facility has been engineered to enhance veneer finishing characteristics, resulting in a clearer and more vibrant range of finishes. This new technology builds upon the long-standing Knoll commitment to leading-edge environmental practices, sourcing wood from responsibly managed forests and leading the way in clean manufacturing technology.

Additional Knoll 2017 NeoCon Highlights

The Knoll 2017 NeoCon showroom will feature the company’s open plan, private office, activity spaces, and ergonomic seating solutions, including Antenna® Workspaces, Dividends Horizon®, Reff Profiles™, Anchor™, the Generation by Knoll® family of chairs, and Remix®, as well as showcase a range of architectural products from FilzFelt and Spinneybeck.

The display will include recently introduced products:

Reff Profiles™ Height Adjustable Executive Desks, Classic and Progressive Peninsulas, sit-stand solutions with a wide variety of configurations and the elegance and flexibility to suit private office to open plan spaces.

New additions to the Pixel™ collection: Pixel™ credenza, Pixel™ pedestal, and the Pixel™ console that expand the line’s practicality and versatility.

The showroom will also feature:

HiLo™ perches, designed by Bret Recor and Seth Murray, addressing two defining shifts in today’s workplace: a focus on well-being, and the rise of untethered, flexible workstyles. The dynamic perch strikes a balance between sitting and standing, supporting people’s active workstyles. Its stability allows users to naturally lean and promote healthy shifts in posture, making it the ideal companion to sit-stand desks.

Contemporary conference and meeting room furniture by DatesWeiser, the Buffalo-based designer and manufacturer acquired by Knoll in 2016. DatesWeiser has announced its first stand-alone showroom for NeoCon 2017, which will debut Highline Fifty tables and credenzas.

Dedicated to Design – 70 Years of KnollTextiles

KnollTextiles was founded in 1947 by Florence Knoll who began an enduring legacy of innovation with her unexpected adaptation of simple menswear fabric for furniture application. With this bold move, she forever changed the language of modern textiles.

Over the last seven decades, KnollTextiles has become synonymous with pioneering design. Under the direction of Creative Director Dorothy Cosonas, KnollTextiles upholds its commitment to state of the art manufacturing and material development while fostering design collaborations and expanding into new product categories.

“Very few textile companies can say they offer a breadth of products that have had a consistent point of view for 70 years. More importantly, no one in the market is connected to a legendary design visionary like Florence Knoll,” said Dorothy Cosonas.

To celebrate 70 years dedicated to design, KnollTextiles is launching archive-inspired collections throughout 2017. The Legacy Collection debuts at Neocon with six archive-inspired upholstery fabrics, two archive-inspired drapery, and three deep emboss vinyl wallcoverings. Also, featured at Neocon, is the Signature Collection, available now, with three archive-inspired upholstery fabrics and an accompanying, refreshed color palette on popular fabrics like Ultrasuede®, Crossroad and Vibe II.

KnollTextiles will continue to add to the archive-inspired collections in the fall, propelling the company’s heritage of classic modern textures into the future.

100 Years of Florence Knoll

To celebrate a century of Florence Knoll and her inspired brand of modernism, Knoll has expanded the Florence Knoll Collection with the addition of new and archival products. Echoing the rational and architectural profile of the Florence Knoll Sofa and Settee, the newly introduced Florence Knoll Relaxed Lounge Seating presents a softer and deeper update of a timeless classic. The Collection also includes the Hairpin™ Stacking Table, an archival design introduced in 1945 and Florence Knoll End and Side Tables, a series of Florence Knoll Dining Tables, as well as the Mini Desk.

About Knoll

Knoll, Inc. is a constellation of design-driven brands and people, working together with our clients to create inspired modern interiors. Our internationally recognized portfolio includes furniture, textiles, leathers, accessories, and architectural and acoustical elements brands. These brands — Knoll Office, KnollStudio, KnollTextiles, KnollExtra, Spinneybeck | FilzFelt, Edelman Leather, HOLLY HUNT, and DatesWeiser — reflect our commitment to modern design that meets the diverse requirements of high performance workplaces and luxury interiors. A recipient of the National Design Award for Corporate and Institutional Achievement from the Smithsonian`s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Knoll, Inc. is aligned with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Canadian Green Building Council and can help organizations achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) workplace certification. Knoll, Inc. is the founding sponsor of the World Monuments Fund Modernism at Risk program.

About Florence Knoll

Born on May 24, 1917, Florence Margaret Schust’s rise to the top of the design world began in tragedy when she was orphaned at age 12. Fortunately, her guardian facilitated her enrollment at the Kingswood School for Girls in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. As Florence Knoll developed a keen interest in architecture, she caught the attention of Eliel Saarinen, architect of the Kingswood School for Girls. Florence went on to become lifelong friends with Eliel’s son, Eero Saarinen, and would later commission him to design modern furniture for Knoll.

Florence went on to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art followed by a brief stint at the Architectural Association in London, which was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Back in the United States, Florence Knoll finished her studies at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. During these years, she worked under some of the greatest 20th century architects including Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Having met Hans Knoll in 1941, Florence Knoll’s role in his young furniture company escalated rapidly, as she became responsible for aesthetic development in addition to the design of office interiors. The pair married in 1946, renaming the company to Knoll Associates.

Florence Knoll set the standard for modern corporate interiors of post-war America with the founding of the Knoll Planning Unit in 1946. She introduced ideas of efficiency, space, planning, and comprehensive design to office planning. Florence ardently maintained that she did not decorate space – she created it.

Florence Knoll’s capabilities were not limited to the highly-regarded Planning Unit. She designed some of Knoll’s most iconic pieces of furniture. Responding to direct needs encountered while working on projects and finding the market lacking, Florence Knoll designed seating, tables, and case goods.

The discipline of her practice and the integrity of her ideas have been lifelong attributes. In 2002, Florence Knoll was awarded the National Medal of the Arts, the highest honor for achievement in the field presented annually by the President of the United States.